Fun with Finnish (and other languages)

[Elly]

You have the permission to kill me because I bumped an old topic.

But I read this whole thing, laughed myself senseless, and wanted to share my story, which I will probably remember for the rest of my life.

I was in Tallinn at that time, going to Helsinki by boat. We had about 3 hours of spare time, so me and a friend decided we'd sit in a cafe for a while.

So with the arriving boat, a group of finnish businessmen arrived. They had reserved a table for themselves in the cafe, so it had a piece of paper with a name on it.

So the finns came, sat down, and left the paper on the table, and did not figure out why the passing estonian were laughing their heads off.

The name that was on the table, was Kari Munne.

Not a very unusual name, eh?

Kari Munne translates LITERALLY as a "bunch of dicks"

[Hank W.]

Good to hear it works the other way around. Usually we just gret a laugh off
"Raivo Kalju" or "Aivo Kulli" or "Piip Veski"...

[Københavner]

Travel to Canada, Montreal to be more exact and go shopping in one of the more fancier shops. Watch shocked locals as Finn speakers mention how expensive things are.

The similar sounding word for Finnish kallis is probably the second most powerful swear word in French Canadian.

[Rob A.]

Travel to Canada, Montreal to be more exact and go shopping in one of the more fancier shops. Watch shocked locals as Finn speakers mention how expensive things are.

The similar sounding word for Finnish kallis is probably the second most powerful swear word in French Canadian.

And what if they said a word that sounded something like "maudit" before it??? What's the most powerful word???... "Tabarnac!!!"....

[Københavner]

Travel to Canada, Montreal to be more exact and go shopping in one of the more fancier shops. Watch shocked locals as Finn speakers mention how expensive things are.

The similar sounding word for Finnish kallis is probably the second most powerful swear word in French Canadian.

And what if they said a word that sounded something like "maudit" before it??? What's the most powerful word???... "Tabarnac!!!"....

I think Tabarnak is the strongest of them all.

[Hank W.]

Chalice, Tabernacle ? Damn, you can't tour a Church with a guide there...

[Rob A.]

Chalice, Tabernacle ? Damn, you can't tour a Church with a guide there...

Charming ain't it??... "Zut alors!!" ...just doesn't have any traction in Quebec...but, then, I don't think it has any traction in France anymore either, unless you're a Maurice Chevalier clone... :

Scream out "Tabarnac!!" in Quebec and people think you are upset about something... Scream out "Tabernacle!!" in English and people will think you are off your meds... Unless you're just a cranky old aunty...the equivalent of saying "Oh, darn!"...

And that's why I find Finnish words like "Saatana" and "Perkele" kind of cute...I don't have the culture reference points to take them seriously...though, I would guess if I spent any time in Finland, I would be knocked into line pretty fast....

[Hank W.]

Well, say the Swedes and Danes are almost restricted to blaspheming-style curses, Jävla thisandthat and thats aboit it, fy fan. Finns drop the lesser minions as auxiliary interjections before a lot of more colorful genitalia and animal parts come into question. Actually, the ancient Finns would shudder hearing the kids in the kindergarten... "mene hiiteen" is quite "tame" these days, whereas it was quite blasphemous about before after some luddite finally swapped their stone axe to a bronze one.

I think though Finns can come up with almost any word combination that is quite tame but means a lot. The "cutest" one I think is "vatipää" ~ (wash)basin-head

Or how about in English The boss was as a bear shot in the arse, and asked who owl had come up with the idea. Now decipher that

[sammy]

Well, say the Swedes and Danes are almost restricted to blaspheming-style curses, Jävla thisandthat and thats aboit it, fy fan. Finns drop the lesser minions as auxiliary interjections before a lot of more colorful genitalia and animal parts come into question. Actually, the ancient Finns would shudder hearing the kids in the kindergarten... "mene hiiteen" is quite "tame" these days, whereas it was quite blasphemous about before after some luddite finally swapped their stone axe to a bronze one.

It would actually be interesting to know where the (nowadays quite) lame and almost comical curses originate from:

Jumprahuiti
Sappermentti
Saamari
Peijoona / peijakas
Pannahinen
Jukopliut
Himputti
... and last but not least...
Jehna

Some 'milder' curses are probably the result of pulling back just before the 'proper' curse has been uttered, like per...manto. (Actually some of the above might be in this group?)

[Hank W.]

Well, Sappermentti just looks like just a mispronounced "Sakrament" - very popular German curse of the olden days I believe. Mispronounced foreign ones are quite usual... herramunjee, herttileeri, fyi faarao, etc.

Pannahinen is Popery Hrm... would "You Excommunicate" work in Quebec?
Pannahinen on kirkon pannaan joutunut henkilö. Suomessa muun muassa verokapinaan osallistuneet talonpojat joutuivat pannahiksi eli heidät laitettiin pannaan.

Peijoona/peijooni peijakas has to do with ancient Finns again.
Peijakas (myös peijakka) on lievä voimasana, joka tarkoitti ilmeisesti paholaista. Ainakin samantapainen sana peijanen tarkoitti paholaista. Alkujaan peijakas on saattanut olla myös oma olentonsa, mahdollisesti sukua peikolle. Peikko tosin on tarkoittanut ruman taruolennon lisäksi myös roistoa ja neidonryöstäjää. Peijakas saattoi olla myös huijari, sillä peijaaminen tarkoitti huijausta tai petosta.

The other ones I think then are toned down, like himputti or jukopliut ... junalautoja saatavana perkiön asemalta". I'd have a hunch that Jumprahuiti and Jehna might be tracked back to Aku Ankka mags...

[enk]

But only in Sweden could you have the convulated thought process that
led to "sjutton också" ("and seventeen!") being considered swearing.

-enk

[mCowboy]

But only in Sweden could you have the convulated thought process that
led to "sjutton också" ("and seventeen!") being considered swearing.

-enk

ja vitut...

[enk]

But only in Sweden could you have the convulated thought process that
led to "sjutton också" ("and seventeen!") being considered swearing.

-enk

ja vitut...

Voi vitjat!

-enk

[sammy]

But only in Sweden could you have the convulated thought process that
led to "sjutton också" ("and seventeen!") being considered swearing.

-enk

Hey wait a minute... why do we have "halvatun kuustoista"! Dang, always one step behind the Swedes

[easily-lost]

Hei = hei ("black" in Chinese);

Hei hei = Bye = bai ("white" in Chinese)

So, hei hei = bai ("black black = white" )